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When Intel unleashed the six-cored Core i7-980 Extreme a while back, a few motherboard manufacturers took the opportunity to go away and refresh some of their X58-based motherboards, adding in the latest technologies, such as SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 in the process.

MSI did that and a whole lot more, and launched the mighty MSI Big Bang XPower, a board with a spec sheet that lives up to the billing its name gives it.

The feature list for the Big Bang XPower makes for impressive reading; high end components in the power delivery (something MSI call 'Military Class') system, six DIMM slots supporting up to 24GB of triple-channel DDR3 memory, dual Gigabit Ethernet, six PCI-E slots (two x16, two x8, two x4 speeds), advanced Quantum Wave audio and more overclocking features than you can wave a stick at, including MSI's OC Dashboard, an external device for monitoring and tweaking settings on the Big Bang XPower.

The XPower Series mainboards are based on Intel X58 & ICH10R chipsets for optimal system efficiency. Designed to fit the advanced Intel Bloomfield LGA1366 processor, the XPower Series deliver a high performance and professional desktop platform solution.